Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Matasar's Junk Bonds

In the unregulated Wild West fantasyland of the American Bar Association, you now have a dean of one of the most overpriced law schools in the nation (who has jacked up tuition 5x faster than inflation over the last 10 years) serving as the head of the Board of Directors of a private student loan financing company. Put this together with the fact that many of the bonds sold off into the ABS market by this financing operation are now going negative, and you have one fishy situation. Lucky for the investors in the FFELP trust, the American taxpayers will be on the hook for 97% of the principal and accrued interest AND PENALTIES in many of these garbage loans.

Thankfully for us, several reporters are interested in looking into this seedy situation, while the ABA sits back and promotes outsourcing and "how to get ripped off while setting up a solo practice" promotional blogs.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fitch-Affirms-Access-Group-bw-809064258.html?x=0&.v=1

186 comments:

Anonymous said...

Contact the attorney generals in all 50 states, contact Michael Moore, contact mother jones magazine. Contact anyone that will listen.

Anonymous said...

Are you aware of the William D. Ford Contingent Repayment Plan available to have law school debt restructured. It is an income sensitive repayment plan. I just learned about it today in the Law.com article about the 61-year old woman in New England who could not find a job and had $82,000 in law school loans....she was in bankruptcy court, and they pointed her in that direction.....check it out guys...it appears it is new, unless I am wrong, at least new in 2008-2009.

Anonymous said...

It's all perfectly legal no doubt. Didn't NY AG Cuomo sue universities for taking improper compensation from student loan companies?

How is this any different? How much is Matasar raking in every year?

Anonymous said...

status of doc review market in nyc??

Anonymous said...

I would definitely try to get on IBR, if I could. The tax liability at the end may be astounding however with all that accrued interest. Don't count on there being no tax liability.
The income sensitive repayment plan is a ticking time bomb that will blow up the federal deficit in twenty five years. Do you really think the gov't will wind up having the money to cover all these million dollar tuition bills spanning twenty years? I doubt it. The IBR plan is a devil in disguise. It gives all these corrupt lenders and law schools an excuse to kick the problem massive tuition inflation down the road.

Anonymous said...

Tuition should be pegged to inflation.

How much more expensive was it to educate a law student in 1995 compared to 2009? The curriculum hasn't changed in over 100 years. Clinics consist of a wooden table and some chairs. A library is totally unnecessary now that everything is electronic.

Where is all this extra money going?

Anonymous said...

Tom,

You and your posters may not have familiarity with the student loan ABS market, however, FFELP provides guaranties to certain tranches and there is an enitre universe of non-federally guaranteed private student loans wrapped up into ABS securities. The subordinated tranches carry goodies like higher spread over LIBOR to sate the investors. They knew or should have known the risks involved with the subordinated paper in this instance.

As to the seedy connection with this Matasar character, I agree wholeheartedly that it should never have been permitted and NYLS should be brought to task for its flagrant conflict.

Anonymous said...

Moreover, "A" is not a junk rating. Below Investment Grade is junk. I thought you knew that.

Anonymous said...

If the declarations of the ABS sellers were in anyway like the declarations of career stats by the law schools, this could be a good lawsuit.

Anonymous said...

Bloated administrators in higher education are bankrupting this generation. Time to cut the fat!

Anonymous said...

Matasar and the Access Group will get away with everything, just like the crooks in the finance industry got away with everything.

This country may be "By the people, of the people, and for the people," but only certain people. The rest can flip off.

Anonymous said...

Screw this fat bastard -- whatzzzz the gossip????

Anonymous said...

Where is everyone???? Whatzzzz going on????
Does everyone have the SWINE FLU???
Is everyone at TOWNHALL MEETINGS???
Is everyone printing money at the FED???
Whatzzz going on???? Am I the only one sitting in my underwear crying???? Whatzzz going on?????

Anonymous said...

Nothing is going on ....that is the problem.....

Anonymous said...

DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!
DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!DENTAL PLAN! LISA NEEDS BRACES!

Anonymous said...

Hudson Legal is currently staffing the following project:

Start date: ASAP

Location: Manhattan

Rate: $70/hr


Duration: 3 month duration (approx. 40 hours per week)



Requirements: Norwegian-speaking attorneys


If interested, please email your most current resume to LEGALJOBS@HUDSON.COM immediately.



In the Subject Line, please reference NORWEGIAN REVIEW.

Anonymous said...

What the fuck is going on??? Money is going to Afghanistan - but I am going to be homeless soon!! I need benefits motherfuckers!!! Those people are used to living in the stone age and mountains - how am I supposed to live without my apt. and amenities of modern life and my snuggie???? Get a clue you fucking Joe Lieberman!! and closet Republicans....

Anonymous said...

This Obama is the biggest fake ever.

ha ha dumb liberals.................suckers!

Goldman Sachs is laughing their way to the bank, with their future chairman T. Geithner.


"I voted for Obama because of the audacity of hope. He's not like Bush. He's the new generation with new ideas. It's change you can believe in."

Anonymous said...

It is the change in my pocket that I can believe in. Soap is also a wonderful thing. Change and hope? Frankly, I'm surprised that all you educated types fell for that mumbo jumbo. The republicans are no better than the democrats. So, whacha gonna do now, Beaver Cleaver?

Anonymous said...

MICHAEL MOORE FOR PRESIDENT!!!

MOORE/SHARPTON 2012!!

Rory The Retard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rory The Retard said...

This is message from my Pops - Trailer Tom:

"8:42. Well said. They are both fuck - offs. Don't wait for these assholes to save you - get off your soft educated butts and rabbit-food diets and make it happen baby boys...first get some meat on yer bones for god's sake - all you yankees smarty pants look pale and thin like cancer patients!! No wonder nothing is happening to you...."

Anonymous said...

By the way, I was in downtown New York yesterday morning and I noticed that NY Law School just opened up a beautiful new building.

Anonymous said...

www.internetfreeamerica.com

Anonymous said...

For the most part, the only NYLS graduates who are able to accomplish anything are the top 5-7% of the class and those who had connections in law prior to attending: their parents, other relatives, or spouses. Also, I think those who had legal jobs prior to attending NYLS (like paralegals) had a head start, so to speak, and were able to leverage that experience into a job after graduating.

The rest of the NYLS grads are doing document review.

Anonymous said...

I heard Labatoilet cut some people yesterday just in times for the holidays and before the 6 months benefits kick in...

Anonymous said...

I worked at Fitzpatrick for a while and there were several New York Law School grads employed as associates. They were a little childish and juvenile but they were employed. If NYLS is so bad how did these clowns get hired?

Anonymous said...

11:17, did you research their background? Are their parents attorneys? Other family members? Who did they know who could get them in the door? Did they graduate in the top 5-7% of their classes? Were they paralegals before attending NYLS?

You can almost be rest assured that one of the above is the reason they got in the door as an NYLS graduate.

Anonymous said...

I am not a lawyer but was thinking of going to NYLS - are you saying that unless I have the connections etc. I will not get hired at all - or just not hired at reputable firms.

Anonymous said...

1:32, I would strongly recommend not attending law school at all unless you get accepted to one of the Top 14 schools, as ranked by US News & World Report.

And I would avoid NYLS like the plague unless you have some connections for guaranteed employment when you graduate. (You can't guarantee graduating in the top 5%, and even that might not be a lock for a job in this downsizing economy.)

This blog and these posts aren't idle chatter. You're getting the benefit of the truth from the trenches of reality.

Larry the Loser said...

In this economy even first tiers are suffering.

Another depressing dismal day - just a few more days to Christmas -yet another holiday I will celebrating alone - too ashamed to face family and friends. Plus being under Big Mamma's boot has left me with few social graces so maybe it's better I stay away until I can rehabilitate myself.

Anonymous said...

Larry...get a freakin' life....you pathetic moron

Anonymous said...

TOP 14 LAW SCHOOLS (or IF YOU DON'T GET INTO ONE OF THESE, DON'T BOTHER ATTENDING LAW SCHOOL):

1) Yale
2) Harvard
3) Stanford
4) Columbia
5) NYU
6) UC Berkely (Boalt Hall)
7) U. of Chicago
8) U. Penn
9) U. Michigan - Ann Arbor
10) Duke
11) Northwestern
12) U. Virginia
13) Cornell
14) Georgetown

Anonymous said...

^^ Might sound ridiculous, but it's true: law is an elitist profession. Pedigree gets you everywhere. Nepotism certainly is a close second for success.

Anonymous said...

To would be law students: Decide for yourself!!!

Don't let the U.S. News or a temp blog tell you what to do. Do your own research. If you find that rank #15 UCLA or U. Texas is worth it, then by all means go.

(this is especially true for people living outside of New York City. For example, people in Texas shouldn't dismiss UT just because it is ranked 15)

Anonymous said...

Enough with the yammering Barry and Biden - get your act together and get us some benefits - time to kick out weasly Joe Lieberman and Blue Dogs and Bitches. Do you see the economy in NY state improving that you are letting the benefits expire???? Fuck the stupid state dinners and GET REAL!!!!

We need benefits!!
We need benefits!!
We need benefits!!
We need benefits!!

Anonymous said...

5:34, you are delusional.

Anonymous said...

Look Barry all I am saying is that I just need a little bit more time. After waiting and waiting and applying and finally realizing it was never going to happen I started on my own biz. I am getting my shit together - but nothing is going to happen $$$-wise for the next few months - so I do need some help for a few more months but my benefits are expiring Dec 27. I am developing plans to be off this crack long-term....I would have gotten off it sooner if agencies had not screwed with my time and put me on and off moronic projects - come on man just a few more weeks and sign it soon!!! Hugs and Kisses....

Anonymous said...

5:34 YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!

Anonymous said...

Barry just handed over big hand outs over to the financial, health care, and military industrial complex. China man said printing more money is a no go. No extended unemployment benefits for you.

Anonymous said...

The US middle class needs to be saved. People on both ends of the spectrum are fine, the rich are fine, the very poor are fine [they get so many benefits] - but the poor fuckers of the middle class are screwed....they work hard and get nowhere....I am sick of this shit - I am buying trailer and going on welfare...

Anonymous said...

6:40 YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!
YOU LIE!!!

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

I'm suspending my payments to Access Group to protest Matasar's flagrant, unethical conflict of interest. Also, I did not get value for money spent and was mislead by NYLS's employment numbers.

I'm fully prepared to weather the legal storm they will bring down on me for defaulting, but it's time to take a stand.

If my life is ruined by these loans - and it is, since they're eating away at my meager, unstable earnings as a temp, plus I havent even put a dent in them after 7 years of repayment (interest) - might as well go for the full monty and default. Let them expend the effort to come after me.

Game on, Matasar.

Anonymous said...

I'd say you're also okay at Fordham, USC and UTexas, but that's really it. I'm not even sure about UCLA which is another one that gets mentioned.

Even for each of these you still need top half or maybe top third, just you have a better shot than all the other non top 14. Also Georgetown isn't even that useful, really, you need the big 3 and maybe the big 5 to have a firm guarantee.

But at least if you're at the above named schools you might be able to get someone to take a chance on you. Don't go in expecting to transfer out either, you need a lot of luck for that to happen and grading is rather arbitrary.

I work sort of, I pretty much work per diem but I'm in enough that everyone knows me. The support staff are great sources of information because they know tons of other attorneys, and as far as I can tell most 08 grads still don't have decent jobs, and forget about the 09s.

Anonymous said...

Where is Sonia - I'd like her take on all this.

FanOfTrailerTom said...

Rory the Retard: Obama is a house nigger. Whi isn't Trailer Tom posting? Is he down with VD again? Regards to your parents, Tom and Emily.

Postscript: I'm too poor to buy decent booze. Does Tom still make a bit of moonshine on the side?

Sonia said...

I am bummed. I read just yesterday that a bankrupcy judge refused to discharge the student loan debt of a 61 year old woman. Hits too to home. You know in ancient ssiatic cultures they would never treat their elders like this. Shameful! The arthritis in my fingers is already starting to flare up and they expect me to keep clicking away well into my seventies? I can only pray for early onset dementia.

Anonymous said...

Listen 6:55 - don't do anything rash. You could lose your license. Trust me I have done things rashly and out of sheer emotion and lived to suffer. The best route may be to keep exposing people like Matasar to the press. Also write to Senators/Congressmen, blogs, contact NYSL alum - or others suffering. If there is enough public anger and outcry maybe something will be done - but if you just go it alone you could fuck yourself. Good luck.

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

8:32, at this point, I don't even care about my license. It's been nothing but an albatross. Nothing positive has come from it. And if I lose it in a noble way - protesting something unjust and unethical - it seems my life would be more satisfying and have more meaning than sitting in another document review, with no benefits, no health insurance, no opportunity for advancement, and no dignity. I didn't sign up for this, nor did I sign up to be marginalized, looked down upon, and kicked around by elites who will never allow me the opportunity to be in their "club." I'd rather completely divorce myself from it all and do something more fulfilling.

Anonymous said...

Matasar should be in prison. For added fun, guess who he hired to head up a bullshit LLM in Financial Services? The guy who was an attorney at LEHMAN - you know, that firm that went under due to greed and mismanagement. What's Matasar going to do next, hire OJ to teach criminal law?

Jubilee Now said...

@8:47

Every time a debtor defaults, an angel gets its wings.

It's the right choice for the country, just make sure it's the right choice for you.

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

11:39, those sound like words of wisdom. Unfortunately, I don't know what you're talking about.

Jubilee Now said...

@12:17

The only thing that will get the economy going again is if mass defaults prompt a mass writedown of debt. Either that, or it prompts a political movement for debt forgiveness (Jubilee Now!).

My point is that you can feel free to do your part by defaulting. The societal consequences are positive.

But you should only do it if it makes sense to you individually - tragedy of the commons and all.

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

12:17 - Someone has to do something, make a statement, make a spectacle. If no one does anything, then nothing will change.

It seems to me that the actual consequences for all toxic debt - student loans, mortgages - is going on the borrowers, rather than on the lenders who made bad decisions. The story of this guy who is being refused admission to the NY bar because of amazing levels of student loan debt is the prime example. Who approved extending this guy loan after loan when he was already so over-leveraged? Why aren't any of these people facing consequences?

Unless, of course, in some perverse way, they actually want people to default. From what I've read, it's more lucrative for the student lenders when a borrower defaults. I don't have the specifics right now, but I found a wealth of information at:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/article-29859.html

Bottom line: Richard Matasar and The Access Group are going to be taken to task for their unethical behavior. It's as clear as day that having the dean of an educational institution that benefits from student loan-funded tuition payments serve concurrently as the chairman of a private student loan company is an improper conflict of interest, even if the student loan company is a non-profit (Access Group is a non-profit, believe it or not). One hand is not only washing the other, but it's scrubbing the damn skin off the other!

How embarrasing it will be for NYLS, Matasar, and Access Group to be dragged through the process I'm planning for them. I'm fully prepared to take my lumps - I did sign on the dotted line. But I plan on getting my points out there - the aforementioned unethical conflict of interest, as well as that I didn't get value for what I paid for and was mislead by NYLS employment statistics.

So, wish me luck.

Anonymous said...

45 days of no work! Not one phone call about a project. I have got to be doing something wrong here. I'm even ready to return to Sullivan at this point its so bad. To hell with this whole profession and this whole goddamn syetem, its a complete sham. Most of us would have been better off getting good jobs out of college, and saving the money.

Jubilee Now said...

Good luck and Matasar sucks!

Anonymous said...

Fan of Trailer Tom - Pops been in da slammer. He tried to grab Mrs. Sarah Palin's ass at book signing tour. After she wink at him Pops thought she love him too. Ooooo lawd...hawhawhawhawhawh -- he such a whigger...now he in there with plenny of colored folks - no booze, no moonshine...and no sign of ma...anyhoos Pops said he close with the Aryan Brotherhood...and they been makin' plans for milishias

Rory The Retard said...

The above post if from me, Rory the Retards.

Anonymous said...

The education bubble will burst. If not in this recession, in the next. Growth in spending outpacing inflation to put up shiny new law school buildings and pad the salaries and pensions of legions of bloated administrators is unsustainable.

Anonymous said...

7:53. Sonia - with regards to praying for early dementia - it looks like you are already there.

With your looks I don't think there is much hope for you - may be you hould just call it a day and move to a foreign country.

Anonymous said...

I am new to this industry and wondering is it bad to work for a plaintiff's firm - will that reduce work for me because of so many conflicts?

Anonymous said...

Yes, if you work for a plaintiff's firm, the biglaw defense firms will blacklist you forever. Take it off your resume, or don't do it.

Anonymous said...

heard Labatoilet started to cut some people this week in time for the holidays and before the 6 months benefits kick in..

Anonymous said...

I think it's Christmas for Matasar haters. Going through my loan papers this morning and came across a letter from financial aid that stated they automatically signed me up for Access loans - no choice was given. They did this to every student in the 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 incoming classes.

Stupid Sexy Flanders said...

To the guy who keeps asking about unemployment extensions, read this:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/04/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/index.htm

Anonymous said...

Stupid Sexy Flanders you are THE BEST!!!!

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

12:51, are you referring to 2005-08 NYLS students being given no option but Access Group? That would be a real smoking gun...

. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

2:08, can they take away my freedom, as in put me in prison? No, they cannot. They can ruin my credit and harass the hell out of me, I know. To keep paying Access Group makes Matasar the winner; the status quo will not have changed. Action speaks louder than words.

I understand the sanctity of contracts. I did sign on the line. But my point is that I didn't get what I thought I was getting. I was mislead into thinking I'd be a lawyer. Instead, I'm a glorified paralegal. I know I'm a "lawyer" in name, but the elites don't treat me as one. Did you read the open letter to Matasar? NYLS grads aren't considered lawyers. The elites offer us paralegal jobs, doc review, or when times were better, staff attorney jobs. Jobs with no opportunity for advancement and no chance to be a part of the leadership strusture. That is discrimination. INSTITUTIONAL DISCRINMINATION. Just as bad as any other form of bigotry.

I didn't sign up to be marginalized and abused by elites.

. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

3:08, I'd love to build a coalition, but those in our position are weak. They don't want to stand up. For whatever reason - fear, necessity, both - they'll continue to keep their heads down and mouths shut. Plus, the temp/contract community is too fragmented to build any sort of unity. This blog is basically the only unifying factor amongst those stuck in contract attorney/doc review land. While it's a great outlet and sounding board, it's not the arm-in-arm unity that's necessary to take on oppression.

My life isn't going to get any better under the current weight of these monthly payments. Nor is it going to get better while stuck doing doc review for 60 hrs a week, with periods of unemployment in between gigs. There is no forward progress happening, and there will be none until the obstacles in front of me are blown to bits. Hedging bets, caution, restraint - these are good things, but in this situation, they won't cause change to happen. Only action will, courageous action, putting it all on the line and letting the chips fall where they may.

At risk of repeating myself, what can they do to me, besides ruin me financially? Take away my license? Let them - I'm not interested in having one if it's worthless without pedigree papers from a T14 school.

. said...

OK, well good luck. I do understand that sometimes people have to take drastic steps to get themselves out of a rut. Seems like you do understand the risks - so I wish you the best.

Anonymous said...

3:03, Nobody in this country has to live in the cold streets and survive off of potato peels. Visit a liberal stronghold like Portland or San Francisco and you will see homeless living in public parks and defecating all over the streets. They are there not because of a lack of funds. They are there because they refuse to follow the strict rules of public housing and oftentimes will not enter into mandated drug rehab programs. Some are mental cases, but institutionalizing them is somehow considered a civil rights violation in this PC culture. For all intensive purposes, the dirt poor in this country live better than 50% of the world's population. Many have cell phones, tv's, and their girth is not necessarily any indication of malnutrition.

Anonymous said...

My point is don't live like a Ethiopian gutter slave in America just so you can make payments to scum masters like Matasar for the rest of your life.

. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

I'll send Tom the Temp updates on my protest of Access Group and Richard Matasar, and NYLS, and the subsequent ordeal I'll be going through to prove my point and give it the necessary gravity and seriousness to make it a serious act of civil disobedience. I'll also open an email account if anyone would like to correspond with me directly.

I'm sure once this gets into the press - I have been contacted by the NY Law Journal already - I'll have to reveal my identity, but by that point, it won't matter. I'll be free from the necessity of remaining anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Good for you. Keep us updated. Matasar double serving like that is insane. You serve on a one week plaintiff's firm project for two days, and the big boy defense firms will blacklist you for life on conflict of interest grounds. What Matasar is doing just screams out conflict of interest.

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

Regarding "ruining my life," I can only imagine what civil rights protesters in the 60s felt they were up against when they stood up to overwhelming status quo obstacles in their pursuit of reality. Physical beatings and murder being among the threats they faced for standing up for what was right.

My situation, and the situation of anyone else in my position, isn't anywhere near as dangerous, nor as significant, as the civil rights movement, but it's somewhat analogous. Both require(d) courage to make the point that what's going on is wrong and needs to be addressed.

I can't sit by passively and wait for someone else to make the point. I have to take the reigns and make the point, because I know through years of observation and interaction with other temps and NYLS grads that no one else has the courage. (No offense, but it's true. What we have here is a bunch of scared, weak people just trying to survive.)

Survival is also important to me, but not without dignity. Ponder that. I'd rather die nobly than live disgracefully and enslaved by elites.

Anonymous said...

Is your email protestaccessgroup@gmail.com?

Did you already post it?

Anonymous said...

It is going to snow tomorrow for the first time. I guess the streak of warm weather is over. Does anyone know if Hugo Chavez still has that oil subsidy program going on?

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

6:29, yes. My email address for this is protestaccessgroup@gmail.com

I just created that account and can be reached privately there.

If you contact me, I promise your privacy and anonymity will be respected.

Anonymous said...

6:41. Are you not getting enough heat from your landlord?

Anonymous said...

I own my own home in Columbus.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a sharecropper's rebelion is brewing against Dean Massa-sar, kids. Stay tuned - I think this may be the Loan that Broke the Massa-sar's back...

Anonymous said...

VIVE LA REVOLUCION!!!
VIVE LA REVOLUCION!!!
VIVE LA REVOLUCION!!!
VIVE LA REVOLUCION!!!

Storm the Bastille of Loan kings - eat cake not shit - Liberte, Egalite or Death!!!

LIVE FREE OR DIE TRYING....

Helga said...

Rory - please tell Trailer Tom that we miss his bloated belly and smiling face and that we need him to organize the southern boys' contingent for the Anti-Matasar Revolution. He needs to break his big butt out of jail a.s.a.p. Also, because we are all on our last legs financially, we need him to kick his moonshine enterprise into high gear so that we can buy his hooch and get some relief from our stark cold nasty reality.

FUCK THE LOAN KINGS!!
FUCK THE LOAN KINGS!!
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!
LET THEM EAT SHIT CAKE AND DIE!!

SOAP AND CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!!
SOAP AND CHANGE!!
SOAP AND CHANGE!!

Helga said...

Hey - why not make Wall Street a giant cell block? The prisoners - a.k.a. the financial gurus who got us into this mess - can wear Armani instead of prison jumpsuits, but we force them to eat bologna sandwiches three times a day and live in cells the size of a portajohn. Their "work therapy" can consist of reviewing unemployment, food stamp, and welfare applications. They'll get one hour in "the yard" each day during which time they sweep sidewalks and empty trash cans. Those fucking bastards deserve far worse.


FREE TRAILER TOM!!!
FREE TRAILER TOM!!!

JAIL MATASAR!!
JAIL MATASAR!!

LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!!
SOAP AND CHANGE!!

Helga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sonia said...

I know a lot of 2nd career folks who were ripped away from their pensions because of Matasar's lies and deceptions. How about a "MAM" contingent, "Mothers Against Matasar"?

Anonymous said...

I think the thing to do would be a coordinated (peaceful) publicized picketing of the ew NYLS building DURING FINALS. it doesnt take many people, juat 10 or so make up signs and contact the media!!! Do it at the new bldg and during finals. they cannot remove you from the public sidewalk. this is the only way to get through to those overpaid underknowledged professors, deans and various other blowhards. i'd be down.

Anonymous said...

End the fed!

The federal reserve is printing massive amounts of money out of thin air. Most of that fake money gets funneled out to shady subprime lenders like the Access Group which ultimately leads to unnecessary law school Taj Mahals and overpaid law school administrator losers. The same thing is happening in the housing, financial, and health industries. This extra money devalues everything in society. Ever wonder why how thirty years ago it only took one working adult to provide a family with a middle class lifestyle? Now, two working adults can hardly eke out a living? This generation NEEDS to become more politically active. Ron Paul 2012!

Helga said...

Hi again - just got out of my shower and ate my soft boiled eggs and toast. Nice breakfast for less than 50 cents but the orange juice, prescription drugs and vitamins bring the total closer to $5.00.

Things to do today:

Go to the library and get some "books on tape" to read at work while reviewing some rich fucker's documents. BTW - thank you for my job, you rich fucker.

Drop the signature cards off at the new bank - I just dumped my old bank because of some rich fucker's service charges. BTW - thank you for a cheaper bank account, you rich fucker.

Go and buy the weekly grub at some rich fucker's grocery store. BTW - thank you for the wholesome clean food, you rich mother fucker.

Yes, its true - I exist to line the pockets of all the rich fuckers out there, and I am most thankful for the opportunity to do so. I am an overeducated peon and my only purpose in life is to spend money and make the upper-class even more rich and comfortable than they already are.

Soap and Change we can believe in!!
Free Trailor Tom! Jail Matasar!
Fuck Master Mastar!!

Helga said...

Sonia, can I join MAM?

A said...

Well said, Helga

Anonymous said...

9:26. Helga, I love your plan!!! Great thinking!!

In addition to Helga's comedy, I also love to hear what what Sonia has to say. She seems to be the sanest one here.

The rest of you are pathetic whiners and moaners and I have no use for you!!

Anonymous said...

You have three now. Tell me when to show up in front of New York Law School. Who is going to contact the media? Do we need a permit from the city? I am ready to scream at those miserable overpaid administrators that are padding their payday pensions by ripping off students as they walk into their shiny new building.

Fan of Trailer Tom said...

As Helga says, we need a revolution. Preferably one spearheaded by Trailer Tom and Rory the Retard.

Anonymous said...

Trailer Tom looks like he could kick some ass and raise a ruckus - but Rory the Retard, I don't know. seems like he is only capable of working as a staff attorney at S$C, which is what he claimed he was doing earlier.

Anonymous said...

Did you NYLS grads not know any of this when you enrolled? Did you not know it was third-rate and what loans you were accepting? Were you sleep-walking? What kind of lawyers did you want to be if you had no research or questioning abilities?

Anonymous said...

Rory showing up would be an embarrassment. Keep Rory and the circus freaks in the Sullivan basement where they belong. Trailer Tom would be key, especially if he brings along some venomous southern Palin tea party types. Sonia would be great if she could bring along some angry AARP members. Tell them that Matasar is pushing for Medicare cuts.

Anonymous said...

11:58 that's not the point. The point is that Matasar is engaging in a blatant conflict of interest.

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

11:58, I did my research. The employment #s published by NYLS said I'd be employed full-time in the $80 - $100,000 range after graduating and passing the bar. Unfortunately, they didn't mention it would be all temporary paralegal doc review work. What other research would you have suggested to me in 1998, when I began this fradulent journey? This blog wasn't around yet, and the entire legal blog explosion hadn't happened yet.

I'm down for the street protest during finals.

Email me:

protestaccessgroup@gmail.com

The press is already listening - don't worry.

Helga said...

Rory is Emily's son and represents the offspring of Big Law. The fact that Rory is also Trailer Tom's son and Trailer Tom is Emily's father makes their offspring even more symbolic of Big Law's Offspring (that would be those of us who click for a living as well as those of us who have been shit-canned (that means "laid off" for those of you who are not from a working class background) by Big Law). Rory is no more an embarassment than we are, so lets not be petty. We cannot sustain a revolt if we are divided amongst ourselves.

Free Trailer Tom!! Jail Matasar!
Free Trailer Tom!! Jail Wall Street and the Fed!!
Chump Change we can Believe In!!

Soap Springs Eternal!!

Anonymous said...

10:23

Dude, time to wake up from your Ron Paul Derangement Syndrome (RPDS)!!

Every major Western industrialized nation has the equivalent of a Federal Reserve bank. If you leave the money supply and prime interest rates completely to the forces of the market, the immediate effect will be that most people will become poor really quick.

The Fed is the new "bogeyman" being thrust forth by populist conservatives like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Lou Dobbs and Ron Paul, because the conservative movement has lost all credibility in its entirety and has been exposed as a bunch of morons. Those who didn't capsize and fall overboard along with the NeoCons of the failed Bush Administration, are now trying to resurrect conservatism in a different get-up, with different rhetoric. Why? Because they are DESPERATE.

Conservatism is the economics of greed and even most conservatives, when you back them into a corner (as the cowards they really are, that isn't really hard), will admit they agree with Gordon Gekko's aphorism, "Greed is Good!"

In other words conservatives and so-called "libertarians" are such sniveling weaklings that they need to rig an entire economy in their favor to allow them to feel confident enough to survive.

We've already figured you out, you see. Conservatism is discredited and crumbling around us and you'll never be able to reinstate the society based on greed that you so desperately dream about!

Anonymous said...

To Protest Access (from 12:51)- I have evidence that you can use that shows they automatically enrolled students with Access - how can I get in touch with you?

Helga said...

I just heard on NPR that Tiger Woods has decided to change his name from "Tiger" to "Cheetah"

Anonymous said...

If Matasar did automatically enroll people in Access, when is the class action going to start?

Anonymous said...

Helga seems to be right. Rory is the offspring of an unholy union of ruthless nasty BigLaw combined with trailer tactics - this kind of union can only produce retards, and mutants - like all of us. We are all also products of this type of incestuous inbreeding in the industry and therefore we are all mutants and retards.

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

2:24, please email me any evidence you have of auto-enrollment with Access Group - this is a huge smoking gun, especially if you're referring to NYLS students being auto-enrolled:
protestaccessgroup@gmail.com

I have appointments with the press next week, so I'll be sure to mention it and forward the Access Group auto-enrollment evidence to them.

I am not fooling around.

Helga said...

Conservative, liberal, neocon, libertarian, blah blah blah. All politics is bullshit propoganda to keep us peons in our place: working and spending, spending and working. Stop drinking the kool aide and look at what's going on around you. You've been fucked. Nobody is going to fix it because nobody cares unless we MAKE THEM CARE. If you aren't working, you should be out protesting. If every unemployed person in this nation took to the street with protest signs on a daily basis, you can bet your ass that the government would respond - and this time they won't be bailing out a bunch of rich fuckers who laughed all the way to the bank.

The Anti Massa-sar said...

Looks like Dean Massa-sar will be winning this year's Beastly Behavior Award....

Not to make his celebration short-lived, but he'd better get a lawyer because 2010 isn't going to be fun for him at all.

Helga said...

You go, Protest Access Group!! You are the best!! Let me know if you need help writing press releases, etc., or anything else.

Anonymous said...

Maybe there would be some hope for Americans if we weren't so busy listening to our ipods, eating, watching porn, masturbating and watching tv in our snuggies. Get real - people are way too fucking lazy and their senses are way too blocked for them to get out on the street. Maybe another few years of 20% unemployment and no food might break the corporate hypnosis they've been under.

Anonymous said...

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE DISASTER SNUGGIE PEOPLE!!!
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE DISASTER SNUGGIE PEOPLE!!!
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE DISASTER SNUGGIE PEOPLE!!!
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE DISASTER SNUGGIE PEOPLE!!!

Anonymous said...

VIVE LA REVOLUCION!!
DOWN WITH SNUGGIES!!
VIVE LA REVOLUCION!!
DOWN WITH SNUGGIES!!
VIVE LA REVOLUCION!!
DOWN WITH SNUGGIES!!

Anonymous said...

2:20 PM - you are just another pathetic, wimpy liberal that cannot speak for himself.

Anyone who strays from moronic orthodoxy is labeled "a kook" or "conspiracy theorist".

The truth is that YOU are the aberrant kook, freak and danger to society.

People like you, comrade, are the true threat to our nation.

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

Helga, I appreciate the offer of assistance. I'll let you know if/when I need your help. Send me an email with a email address where I can contact you. If you're concerned about privacy and remaining anonymous, create an anonymous Gmail account with which to correspond with me. As I've said, I'll continue to remain anonymous myself, until it's time to take a public stand in the press - presumably when the press begins publishing reports on this. (By the way, I'm also the author of the "open" letter to Matasar, so he knows who I am. Maybe he'll out me, then I can really fight with my gloves off......)

protestaccessgroup@gmail.com

No more Access Group student loan repayments until Matasar and every other college/grad school administrator steps down from the Board.

No more law school student loan repayments AT ALL until unequal treatment from T14 graduates ceases.

It's time for the BS to cease.

Helga said...

3:45 - you are correct. Many people are not yet angry enough to do anything but blame themselves for their situation. "I must be my fault that I'm an unemployed click monkey." They are too lazy to do the basic research to find out what's actually happening in the world around them. But this type of blindness cannot last forever - especially if the economy continues to tank through 2010.

Free Trailer Tom! Jail Matasar!

Anonymous said...

to protest acces group guy--
contact every news stations "shame on you" (or similar) segment. I am completely serious. They would be all over this story. Its patently unfair to take advantage of well meaning kids in this fashion.

to the "why did you go to NYLS" guy-- For me, I did not go to NYLS, but I am entirely sympathetic with its graduates' collective plight. It is simply unconscionable that they are getting away with this pilfery.

Helga said...

Matasar is not the only board member with a conflict of interest: check this out -

http://www.accessgroup.org/
about-access-group/
board-of-directors.htm

PROTEST ACCESS GROUP said...

5:33, we're already on it re. media outlets. They're actually contacting us at this point, but it sure would be nice to see Arnold Diaz and "Shame On You" storm NYLS...

If NYLS thought the 2003 coverage of the pedophile professor Ed Samuels conviction (and the subsequent firing of the tech woman who found the kiddie porn all over his laptop, for which she sued and appeared numerous times on O'Reilly Factor) was bad, just wait for this poo poo to hit the fan...

Anonymous said...

It would be interesting to know the number of Access Group student loans issued at all the board members' institutions, and comparing that to the number of loans from other companies.

Anonymous said...

I think Helga is absolutely right. For a while I was blaming myself for my unemployment - but I also know I am an extremely hard-worker, honest, responsible. After a few months it dawned on me that it was really out of my control. As I did more research I also realized how bad the system really is and how we have all been screwed. I wish people would protest more -- either people are lazy or they are shit scared. Either way, if they keep quiet we will continue to get fucked up our bleeding asses - Obama, Bush, Biden - they are all the same. no one, no one gets to be president of any country by being an liberal hippie [like all these stupid kids believed]. Although I am a democrat I did not buy the "we have change, yes we can" bullshit and nor do I buy it now. I am too old and have seen enough to be swayed by silly slogans. Still Obambi is a little better than Bush - like Clinton he has seen a working man's life and is bound to be a little more sympathtic than the coke-snorting cheerleader. I just hope I pass away in my sleep one day - I just don't want to wake up and find I have cancer and no health insurance.

Anonymous said...

And yes, the economy is going to tank right through 2010. A new book called Lords of Finance chronicles the onset of the Great Depression - and from what I have read the phase we have just been going through now is what was happening right before the bottom fell out of the economy then. Scared the shit out of me - obviously we have better monetary policies and people seemed to have learned a little from the past - but apparently the shit hit the fan a few years INTO the recession.

Anonymous said...

Nice work, Helga.

It's nice to see some solid reporting around here for once.

I wish Above the Law would do more of this and focus less on the tabloid. I am tired of reading about that chubby guy's liberal pet projects and having to read through unedited grammatical pieces. I also wish that Filipino gay guy would stop telling us about all his favorite porn sites.

Helga said...

Don't be scared of protest. Its more fun than you know. It is like a party - you think of a theme for the day and get people involved. One day you dress in your lawyer yuppie suits and carry your signs around, the nest day you dress like a hippie and carry your signs around, the next day you dress like Trailer Tom and carry your signs around. People bring food and drinks to share. They laugh and joke and have a good time making up funny chants. When the press arives, a designated spokesperson does the talking. No big deal, just a little fun. Better than sitting around in your boxers watching the damn boob tube.

Anonymous said...

It's not a conflict to be on the boards,(already checked with the AG and DA) but it is a conflict that NYLS was directing their students to Access without giving them a choice.

. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Hey, Ticky Dicky, I see bars in your future. Section 190.65 of the NY Penal Law - Scheme to defraud - E Felony.

How about a set of cuffs for x-mas?

Helga said...

Temporarily Yours: I knew too - and like you, I just didn't think it would be this bad. I saw it coming in 2007. In preparation, I paid off all my credit cards and my car, so all I had left was my student loan payment. And you are right, if a moron like me knew, all those high finance and political hucksters knew too. Just another example of "fucked in America".

Thanks to 6:42 - I ordered the book from my library this evening and can't wait to read it!

. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Work for $30 per hour, senor.

Anonymous said...

MATASAR is the Dick Fuld of the law school scam. And he still has his job! Be a man and resign like Joan King.

Anonymous said...

Matador used to be a dean in Florida.

The state that gave us Bush and the start of the housing bubble is the gift that keeps on giving.

Sonia said...

Many of my girlfriends are retired down in Boca Raton. The only thing I would be able to afford down there is a dingy government subsidized flat in Little Havana.

Anonymous said...

Just gotta say that "Massa-sar" is perfect.

It encapsulates his position and the relationship between him/Access/NYLS/and the students-grads.

Not sure if it has been floating around for a while, but Massa-sar sums up that d-bag perfectly.

Anonymous said...

“Most law schools have no chance to improve. They’re mired in the past, beholden to special interest groups, and incapable of disrupting their own comfort levels,” Dean Matasar says.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Access group anyone?

Helga said...

Dear Snuggie People - Santa is coming to town.

Legal share croppers - time to revolt. The masters are sending their cotton and tobacco seeds to India. Those Indian folks don't know nothin' 'bout growin' tobacco and cotton.

FREE TRAILER TOM! JAIL MATASAR!
CHUMP CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!!

Emily said...

Massa-sar is right, you little bitches. Code my documents, or Mr. Massa-sar will ruin your credit. Maybe if you are lucky I will throw in a five dollar meal allowance after 9 p.m.

Anonymous said...

Look what's happening out in the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Hey I'm dancing down the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Ain't it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolutiongot to revolution
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now it's time for you and me
Got a revolution got to revolution
Come on now we're marching to the sea
got a revolution got to revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we
We are Volunteers of America

Helga said...

Emily - eat shit and die, you washed out Big Law Ho. Your papa is in jail for grabbing Sarah Palin's scrawny ass, and you, a big shot New York lawyer, haven't lifted a manicured finger to help him. Your son Rory left home to work as a staff attorney in the S&C basement just to be closer to you and you ignore him when you see him.

BTW, you were a lot better looking when you were down home sitting outside on that old couch drinking beer and smoking cigarettes in your over-stuffed stretch pants.

Fan of Trailer Tom said...

We have to get Trailer Tom out of the pen. He will lead us serfs to freedom.

Anonymous said...

Obama:change you can believe in.
So many good things by Obama (not stop Iraq war, escalate Afghan war, give $$$$ to Goldman Sachs and cronies, raise deficit from 1 trillion to 12 trillion).\

I am happy I voted for Obama. He is refreshing change,

The Anti-Massa-sar said...

RICHARD MASSA-SAR: 2009 BEASTLY BEHAVIOR AWARD WINNER!!

(Add that to your Curriculum Vitae, Rick.)

Rory The Retard said...

Waaaaaaaa, what you whiggers been sayin' about me??? I dun understand. Alls I know is I keep my heads down and do what Massa Fig at S&C tell me. Anyhoos, Pops sent a message. He say you yankee lawyers too lily-livered to do anything. He say yawl look like a bunch of sissy-boys with your pale skins and bones bodies. He say if you want to raise a ruckus you best get some meat on yer crackin' bones and he want you ladyboys to get on a steak and potatoe diet with plenny of moonshine and women on the side [he say that good fer the soul]. He also want you pansies to run up some hills everyday like the devil [or this Massar character] is after you - run, run, run bitches. And he want you to stop your bitchin' and moaning and start doing something. He also say you better start developin' some guts and punch the daylights out of the next sucker who treat you bad - Otherwise he got no use for you depressing deadbeats and he will not help at all. He say live free or die like the vermin you are!!

Helga said...

3:07 - you are the bee's knees, baby. You make me giggle. Don't worry too much about the deficit - you won't have to pay for it, your kids will but who cares, right? And Afghanistan and Iraq? We are all too old and scrawny to be in combat - we'll leave that to others whom we don't know, right? Goldman Sachs? Aren't they the new and most popular protestant denomination of New York? I hear that they are going to create Michelle Obama as the new Virgin Mary and the President will fulfill the roll of St Joseph. I guess we'll find out who their Christ Child will be in a few weeks...

Anonymous said...

Anyone here like Michael Scott from the Office?

When he was 30 he thought he'd be a millionaire by 40, but at 40 he has even less money than he did at 30.

Anonymous said...

Where is everyone???? Whatzzzz going on????
Does everyone have the SWINE FLU???
Is everyone at TOWNHALL MEETINGS???
Is everyone printing money at the FED???
Whatzzz going on???? Am I the only one sitting at home in my underwear ???? Whatzzz going on?????

Anonymous said...

Last night a very scintillating conversation took place on this blog about how people are being ripped off, call to revolution and the state of our finance. I am sorry to have missed it. All I can say is that I hope people get it - that they are just going to keep getting fucked. No matter what Presidents and Congress people say - it suits them all to have a few people rip us off because those dollars go back to electing them. They are not sorry at all - we need to throw off our snuggies and get out in the freakin streets....

Anonymous said...

Tomorrow is Monday. Another week in the ghetto. I don't know if I will be able to bear it.

Anonymous said...

You'll be fine. Make sure to take your Prozac.

Fan of Trailer Tom said...

Folks, it's going to be white trash like Trailer Tom and Rory the Retard who are going to save your bacon -- types who haven't been enervated by 7 years of worthless schooling, who haven't been indoctrinated to obey and to be lackeys of the capitalist system.

You need an authentic revolution -- one with blood flowing in the streets. One that will hammer a silver stake through the blood-sucking vampire otherwise known as American capitalism.

2010 is going to be a year of increasingly bloody riots and demonstrations. Vive la Revolution!

Cryn Johannsen said...

Wow - why haven't we met yet? This blog is awesome. I just posted about you and discussed your latest piece on my blog - Education Matters (http://alleducationmatters.blogspot.com/2009/12/dean-of-most-overpriced-law-school-in.html)

-C. Cryn Johannsen, Political Activist, Writer, and Advocate for People who are part of the indentured educated class!

Anonymous said...

I am heading to Mexico with a goat and buffalo. From what I hear you are right - in 2010 there are going to be food riots and tax revolts and hookers and pickpockets jacked up on crack and debt are going to be out in streets. Goodbye America....and Happy New Year

Anonymous said...

6:51 said "I wish Above the Law would do more of this and focus less on the tabloid. I am tired of reading about that chubby guy's liberal pet projects and having to read through unedited grammatical pieces. I also wish that Filipino gay guy would stop telling us about all his favorite porn sites."

Hmmmm, I think I better head on over to that site....

Anonymous said...

http://www.cpaglobal.com/ip-review-online/4235/global_recovery_herald_lpo_boom

Cryn Johannsen said...

Damn it! I'm angry. So, they're outsourcing legal services and we're still encouraging people to go to law school and get into debt? Absurd.

I blogged about a link someone sent to me here - thanks to that person!

Outsourcing Legal Work - http://alleducationmatters.blogspot.com/2009/12/outsourcing-legal-work.html

Cryn Johannsen said...

Helga - let's connect! I'm organizing people across the country. Email me ccrynjohannsen@gmail.com.

Rory The Retard said...

Hey Missuz Cryn [what are you cryn about , he, he, get it???] ...

Cryn Johannsen said...

Haha. I is cryin' about an awful lot, Rory the Retardo.

Cryn Johannsen said...

http://themoneycoach1.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/law-school-loan-forgiveness/

Thoughts on this stuff?

Emily said...

C.C. Johannsen, political activist and advocate for the people. Looks like another Al Sharpton hispanic wannabe. We have enough Barry Obama community organizers in this country. Tell the loser student loan deadbeats that you are trying to organize to pay off their loans.

Rory The Retard said...

Come on you morons and whiners -- this lady wanna help you. Otherwise Pops was right - you ain't nuttin' but a bunch of lily-livered deadbeats. Now get on the bandwagon and get hitched -- giddyup Missuz Cryin!!!

Rory The Retard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rory The Retard said...

Shut up ma [Emily] - we thought you waz dead 'cause of the herpeez...you sho' look dead - get lost bitch...

Please Miss Cryn don't listen to this ho...

Cryn Johannsen said...

To which "ho" are you referring? I can't hear a thing.

Rory The Retard said...

Emily - she is a troublemaker

Fan of Trailer Tom said...

Rory the Retard: We want Trailer Tom back. We know you're in close contact with him. The revolution is going to be spearheaded by honest-to-God white trash; not by these lily-livered lawyer types who go no further than being net warriors. And tell Emily to bugger off -- she's a stooge of the capitalist system

Anonymous said...

This Emily is a real pain the ass. Please ignore this crazy bitch's ramblings. Cryn do your thing -- people on this blog have been bitchin and moanin and now there's finally someone ready to help them. I hope they get their act together and finally join forces with you to do something. Praise the Lord!!!

Anonymous said...

Emily, go shove it!

Emily said...

This is why I always ask the partners when are we going to outsource this nonsense to India. I am tired of all the degenerates showing up in the basement thinking they are owed forty acres and a mule.

Anon said...

1. Many people don't have money for rent.
2. Many people don't have money for health care.
3. Many people don't have money to pay back their student loans.
4. Many people can't afford the userous intrest rates that a lot of credit card companies charge.
5. The unemployment rate is growing even as I type this.

How are potential clients going afford to hire my husband to represent them? They can't! Even so, my husband would make a lot less at any other job, so what is he going to do with a six figure loan in this economy? He already works 50-70 hours a week, and sometimes on the weekend, doing criminal defense work for the state at a drastically reduced rate, but at least it's a pay check. I am busy taking care of my disabled elderly parents. No pay there lol. Do you know what the suicide rate is on young attornies? I bet it would be interestingly high. He is so depressed. Anyone would be. I feel for everyone in this economy. This is not what any of us wanted.

Anonymous said...

Emily needs to get hitched with the Eunuch as soon as possible. Because only a man with no balls would put up with this witch. Judging by Emily's meaness I can only assume someone dumped her recently...

Anonymous said...

Emily, the only loser in this entire blog is you! To be polite, eat feces and expire!

Anonymous said...

3:12 keep on truckin...keep the faith and know that things could be a lot worse - just thank god for each day and keep pushing - I say that to you because I say that to myself everyday when things just seem to be stuck in the same old dark Groundhog Day...

Cryn Johannsen said...

I'm gonna keep on truckin', because people who aren't born into privilege deserve a shot in this country. And as long as I can raise hell for 'em, I'm gonna do it. It's my calling. To hell with being an intellectual historian.

-Education Matters (http://alleducationmatters.blogspot.com/)

Anonymous said...

I paid my Access Group loan this mobth by check, with a note on the payment coupon "Richard Matasar must resign as chairman of Access Group because of conflict of interest!"

It's a start.

Baxter Davenport III said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
daniel said...

Interesting… I might try some of this on my blog, too. It’s quite interesting how you sometimes stop being innovative and just go for an accepted solution without actually trying to improve it… you make a couple of good points.

url:-

Anonymous said...

QUESTION:
why are you typing on this blog instead of taking action?

If Matasar and the student lender, Access Group, are connected, and it appears they are...see the Access Group website listing the Board of Directors, available at: http://www.accessgroup.org/about-access-group/board-of-directors.htm, then take action, BRING HIS HOUSE DOWN!

The New York Attorney General would investigate this issue, especially if Access Group loans are pushed on NYLS students.

Information on filing a complaint with the NY Attorney General is available at: http://www.ag.ny.gov/resource_center/complaints/complaints.html

Attorney General also has published information on Student Lending, available here: http://www.ag.ny.gov/bureaus/student_loan/home.html

You might be interested in the fact that NYLS assets in 2002 were $69,675,910, but in 2006 they reached $357,433,344. WOW! That will win Chairman of the Board some points with the rest of his Board. You can review NYLS financials by viewing pdf copies of filed forms 990 and form 990-Pf at:
http://tfcny.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/esearch.php

If you view the financials accessible on these pages, then you should be able to access information on Matasar's compensation as well as compensation of other top paid employees at NYLS.

In addition, if NYLS appears to misrepresent material facts about the services it provides, then you might have a cause of action for breach of implied contract. The NY Courts have held that there is an implied contract between students and institutions of higher education. You will have a hard time finding a case where they have found a breach. There is one case where the court found that the University made a specific promise, but there was no breach because the promise was not between the student suing and the university. I think this was a Cornell case involving fraternity hazing.

If you found several people interested in bringing this claim, perhaps you could join your claims---and in that case it seems to me the Courts would be compelled to at least hear you out. If for example, NYLS promised a certain student/faculty ratio and did not actually have that student/faculty ratio, then you might have a claim. If NYLS promised to provide career services in the form of x,y,z and instead provides a,b,c which is less than the x,y,z it promised, then that would also be actionable. It seems to me based on what you wrote above, you might consider breach of warranty claims....I know that students have prevailed with those in other states. You might say as a result of NYLS breach you are stuck in a life of indentured servitude. A jury might be sensitive to a GROUP of you if you presented the issue right.

* NYLS was recently sued on breach of implied contract theory. The plaintiff lost, but he was pro se, still a student etc, Case is available at: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2009/2009_52331.htm

A law school education is a substantial investment and it should yield a certain return. If NYLS is doing what you say it is doing, you should not sit around complaining. Instead use this as an opportunity to make this your big break! Organize a group of students similarly situated, then initiate sweeping reforms to legal education and student lending. Not that ambitious? Then just start with the Attorney General complaint.

Cryn Johannsen said...

Are you serious? Do you think your the ONLY one who has thought of trying to take action in this way? No offense, but you sound like you haven't been following the student lending crisis closely. And just so you are aware, I don't just "blog" about the problem. I am also trying to get people involved in their own communities, etc., etc. But social media and blogging help people realize they aren't alone.

Anonymous said...

And to add a note to my previous comment:

CONFLICT OF INTEREST ISSUE

Someone above wrote that is not a conflict of interest that Matasar serves on both the NYLS Board and the Access Group Board.

That may not necessarily be the case. This is because Matasar serves as the NYLS DEAN AND PRESIDENT as well as the CHAIRMAN of the NYLS BOARD. He has a management role at NYLS as well as a Director role. If he uses this management role at NYLS for the benefit of Access Group to the detriment of NYLS, then he has breached a fiduciary duty owed to NYLS. But I suppose this would only be true if NYLS is legally liable to all the students....because that would be entirely Matasar's fault. And I guess it would give NYLS grounds to terminate his employment contract.

In addition, does Sarbanes-Oxley apply to Non-Profits Corporations? Because this arrangement might raise a SOX compliance issue. I believe Boards are supposed to be completely INDEPENDENT from management.

Anonymous said...

Emily-
make partner yet? I already know the answer to that question. Let me tell you something else I know--you never will.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
".... this is the only way to get through to those overpaid underknowledged professors, deans and various other blowhards. i'd be down."

do you mean incompetent adjunct instructors? Because the NYLS faculty is the only thing NYLS has going for it. The only problem with the faculty is that it blindly follows the administration on issues concerning the curriculum. I explain why this is irresponsible below.

Now, It might be that the majority of adjunct INSTRUCTORS are completely incompetent. However, Instructors and faculty are distinguished. First, Instructors are not factored into the student faculty ratio. Second, instructors make $5,000 for teaching a 2 credit course, while a faculty member might take home over $200,000 for teaching 10 to 12 credits in the academic year.

NYLS is making an incredible about of revenue by having these adjunct instructors teach about 20% of the required courses. For example, NYLS packs 20 students into a 2 credit drafting course taught by an adjunct instructor. The students are paying roughly $3,000 per credit hour. So that is 20 students paying $6,000 for the course which totals $120,000. The adjunct instructor takes $5,000. NYLS takes $115,000.

Meanwhile, full time faculty down the hall is teaching a 3 credit seminar class to about 10 students paying $3,000 per credit. NYLS takes in $90,000, while full time faculty takes home about $50,000.

My making students take 20 to 30 percent of their courses with adjunct instructors, NYLS is making a killer profit. The student is not getting the instruction one reasonably expects from an ABA accredited law school.

Although the faculty allows this, which I find horrifying, this does not mean that full time faculty members should be analogized to adjunct instructors. the two are not the same.

*it should be noted: Adjunct faculty are also not analogized to adjunct INSTRUCTORS. there is a difference. Adjunct faculty might be full faculty at another law school....

Anonymous said...

Johannsen-

I know I am not the only one who thought of filing a complaint with the Attorney General.

I think what you are doing is great.

I was throwing in some other information for some people who seemed to think they were destined to review documents in a basement. The fact is, the majority of the people posting on this blog are attorneys. They can file the complaint with the Attorney General and they can also take some other legal action in the Courts. If there is a remedy in the courts, I was encouraging them to try that too.

I understand the importance of what you are doing on a collective level. But if these people are hurting right now. If they have individual remedies as well, then they should go for those too. They might find a way to do this by looking at what the NY Attorney General has done on the student loan front in New York. This might help them formulate arguments to use in court.

Take it easy...I'm on your side.